They’re always shooting dead people
Time for an English lesson from Doctor Tom!
- BBC News:
Woman shot dead by police
- In my head:
They’re always shooting dead people
- In my head:
I mean, they’re always shooting people dead
Let’s look at some phrases:
| Phrase | Meaning |
| shoot dead a person | Shoot a person such that they die |
| shoot a dead person | Shoot a person who is already dead |
| shoot dead people | Because there’s only been a particle removed (for the plural), one would have thought it would be able to mean both, but reading it I can only get the “shoot people who are already dead” meaning |
| shoot people dead | Shoot people such that they die |
I just thought of an interesting phrase with two parsings: The tyres were shot
- the tyres were (past tense, active voice) in the state of being “shot” (in poor condition), or - somebody shot the tyres (past tense, passive voice).
What fun!